Listen: Jonny Telafone – Only Temporary Things

Originally from Canberra but now based in Melbourne, Jonny Telafone first came to the wider public’s attention via the Dream Damage label/blog, where several of his cassettes were sold and then digitally distributed. He’s always been a hard guy to pin down: back in 2010 his songs (‘Doomed in Love’ for instance, released in 2009) seemed to fit nicely next to that other Dream Damage luminary Horse MacGyver (what’s that guy doing nowadays, anyway?). It turned out that wasn’t the case at all, because whichever way you try to spin it, Jonny Telafone is all over the shop. Certainly not in a bad way, though.

Later material like 2010’s Wherever the Wind Blows demonstrated a more conventional, confessional approach to songwriting, echoing some of the songs he wrote as far back as 2007. Most recently, he’s released a 7 inch through Nihilistic Orbs called Ceremony. It’s a pretty confusing state of affairs for anyone with an interest in the guy, so it’s lucky that Chapter Music has compiled a Jonny Telafone best-of, which collects various tape and digital releases. It’s packaged as a CD and 7 inch package, with the 7 inch featuring four new tracks. We’ve chosen to embed something a bit older: a track called ‘Only Temporary Things’. It’s easy to run hot and cold with Jonny Telafone, but for mine, this is one of his stand out moments.